Friday, October 19, 2012

Payback: go, Granny, go

When Mary Bach reached the cash register at Walmart with her pack of Brown ’N Serve sausages, she knew that something was very wrong — the label on the product read 98 cents, but the cashier tried to charge her a full dollar. She wasn’t impressed.
Walmart offered to defuse the situation by refunding the two cents, but the damage was done, and this grandmother wasn’t about to take it lying down.
So she sued their asses over those two cents, alleging that it was totally intentional and they were trying to rip her poor ass off.
According to Bach, the suit wasn’t about the money — it was about principle. How can you justify overcharging customers two cents? The kicker is that Bach won the suit. The courts awarded her $100 for her suffering and $80 for her trouble. On one hand, that's a trivial sum compared to the time and energy she must have devoted to pursuing it. But that is also 9,000 times the disputed amount.

From Cracked, which I normally like but they meant to make fun of her.

Verizon Wireless tried to steal $50 from me. My bank refunded it. Now I get my phone service from the Germans.